[Aptorian]

I would describe Furious of Calderon as more of a Young Adult novel than a proper fantasy book, really. While it has all the elements of your average high fantasy book it's just so... generically YA. I can only guess that this feeling comes from having a kid as a protagonist.

I liked the book but it didn't really impress me in any real way.

I have yet to read the second book in the series, which I will eventually, but when I do it will not be because of the storytelling or characters, it will be for the magic system and world building. I found the potential of the furies and the crafter interesting. The notion that the First Lord could be so powerful that he could create storms, move mountains, command hundreds of furies, etc. Well, that stuff is fascinating. Also I want to hear about these frost giants or what ever they are in the north.

[amphibian]

Pennyapt, on 15 July 2011 - 12:33 PM, said:

I would describe Furious of Calderon as more of a Young Adult novel than a proper fantasy book, really. While it has all the elements of your average high fantasy book it's just so... generically YA. I can only guess that this feeling comes from having a kid as a protagonist.

I liked the book but it didn't really impress me in any real way.

I have yet to read the second book in the series, which I will eventually, but when I do it will not be because of the storytelling or characters, it will be for the magic system and world building. I found the potential of the furies and the crafter interesting. The notion that the First Lord could be so powerful that he could create storms, move mountains, command hundreds of furies, etc. Well, that stuff is fascinating. Also I want to hear about these frost giants or what ever they are in the north.

Trust in Butcher.

The things you like, Apt, are things you will hear much more about in the coming books. And you'll read about way more than you imagined and probably really like it too.

[Abyss]

So a short trip this past weekend required something to read that was less hefty than DWD, so FoC and ACADEM'S FURY came along.

I finished FoC... basically read the entire second half of the book in one long sitting. For the most part the rest of the book is consistent withthe first, which is to say frustratingly predictable but good enough...

Kitai turning out to be a girl, Tavi saving her, Doroga going all nobel savage, Kord being 'eeeeevil', Amara and Bernard knocking boots, irritating officious soldier nearly fucks things for everyone, etc etc... the tropes were hitting hard and fast and in an entirely mediocre way.

The finale was good fun, however. Solid brutal action, really well written descriptions and every character, good and bad, having at least a moment to shine. It basically saved the book from being a total exercise in frustration. And despite myself, i had a chuckle at 'He followed me home, can i keep him?'.

To be fair, my whole 'exercise in frustration' thing comes from the fact that i have read a LOT of fantasy lit, which took away most if not of the novelty of the first book. A less 'experienced' reader would probably enjoy FURIES a whole lot more.


But all that said i picked up ACADEM'S FURY with some hope of more/better based on various comments upthread.

And was almost immediately let down when it started out like Tavi's plotline was a Harry Potter redux, and in particular how the 'combat training' scene went... and I had a good laugh at myself when Butcher turned that scene around on its ass and revealed what was really going on. The book then proceeds to ratchet up the tension once (vorg attack!), twice (High Lord down!), thrice (not one but TWO conspiracies, possibly three!!!), and four times(the Canim..."You have bad breath." HA!) in less than 50 pages, echoing the way Butcher manages to skyrocket tension in his Dresden novels in mere pages.

So so far, so much better.
I'll pause again now to resume DWD, but i'm looking fwd to coming back.

[Use Of Weapons]

You know how Butcher introduces everyone to Alera in the back of a few Dresden books? Calling it the 'traditional epic fantasy story he'd loved and always wanted to write'? I wonder if FoC actually predates Dresden, and from Academ's Fury onwards we're seeing the real Butcher as we know him from the Dresden Files. FoC does really come across as a novice effort, at least compared to post-Summer Knight Dresden.

[Vengeance]

UseOfWeapons, on 25 July 2011 - 02:42 PM, said:

You know how Butcher introduces everyone to Alera in the back of a few Dresden books? Calling it the 'traditional epic fantasy story he'd loved and always wanted to write'? I wonder if FoC actually predates Dresden, and from Academ's Fury onwards we're seeing the real Butcher as we know him from the Dresden Files. FoC does really come across as a novice effort, at least compared to post-Summer Knight Dresden.

It is a distinct possibility one that would explain a lot of the meandering of the first book. It is possible that he was writing them around the same time. Then Dresden took off so he completed more of those and found his writing style.

[Abyss]

In the end, book 2 did not disappoint. Nicely raised tension, some neat development of the broader world, notably just how serious the High Lords and Ladies power levels are and the canim an interesting new race, some solid character development and a fairly brutal hand at killing off supporting characters. If i was going to critisize anything it's that at no point do i believe that Tavi, Bernard, Isana or Amara are actually in jeapordy, altho everyone around then clearly is.

That said, the writing was better, the tropes were limitted, and the story was fun. The vord are a good villain for this series, straightforward capital E evil with an assortment of tricks up their slime, and i enjoyed how the various political machinations between the High Lords in the background complicated things. Butcher does a nice job of showing the power games going on in Alera.

Tavi developped nicely. Perhaps the only trope that remains irritating is how his voice becomes 'stern and commanding' whenever needed.


Book three raised the game. The military clashes were awesome, Tavi totally raised his game, i liked Bernard and Amara's rescue mission, and overall this was a great book that totally showed me why many of you loved the series from this point on.

Kitai is fast becoming my favourite supporting character - she gets all the best lines.

I absolutely enjoy how it's Tavi's lack of furies that causes him to outthink everyone else. And holy dragonfuck can Butcher write a massive clash of thousands action scene in the third person.

The canim were a great opponent and i really enjoyed how Aleran tactics were adjusted against them, and vice versa.

Tavi and Nasaug playing 'chess' was a brilliant touch, altho i think Gemmel may have done that bit in one of the Druss books.

Bernard shooting Kalarus in the face with a salt arrow was action-movie perfection, and

Amara really soared (pun intended) as a character in this book.

So book three settles it - i'm loving this series.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 17 August 2011 - 04:55 AM, said:

In the end, book 2 did not disappoint. Nicely raised tension, some neat development of the broader world, notably just how serious the High Lords and Ladies power levels are and the canim an interesting new race, some solid character development and a fairly brutal hand at killing off supporting characters. If i was going to critisize anything it's that at no point do i believe that Tavi, Bernard, Isana or Amara are actually in jeapordy, altho everyone around then clearly is.

That said, the writing was better, the tropes were limitted, and the story was fun. The vord are a good villain for this series, straightforward capital E evil with an assortment of tricks up their slime, and i enjoyed how the various political machinations between the High Lords in the background complicated things. Butcher does a nice job of showing the power games going on in Alera.

Tavi developped nicely. Perhaps the only trope that remains irritating is how his voice becomes 'stern and commanding' whenever needed.


Book three raised the game. The military clashes were awesome, Tavi totally raised his game, i liked Bernard and Amara's rescue mission, and overall this was a great book that totally showed me why many of you loved the series from this point on.

Kitai is fast becoming my favourite supporting character - she gets all the best lines.

I absolutely enjoy how it's Tavi's lack of furies that causes him to outthink everyone else. And holy dragonfuck can Butcher write a massive clash of thousands action scene in the third person.

The canim were a great opponent and i really enjoyed how Aleran tactics were adjusted against them, and vice versa.

Tavi and Nasaug playing 'chess' was a brilliant touch, altho i think Gemmel may have done that bit in one of the Druss books.

Bernard shooting Kalarus in the face with a salt arrow was action-movie perfection, and

Amara really soared (pun intended) as a character in this book.

So book three settles it - i'm loving this series.

How about the revelations at the end of book 3?! A couple of them melted my brains....a certain conversation on a bridge! Huh?!

At any rate, glad you are digging the series.

[Use Of Weapons]

Yeah, despite Butcher saying all the time that this was a "classic fantasy" and the trope of the

Spoiler

farmboy being a "hidden monarch"

, I was completely gobsmacked by that revelation.

[Abyss]

Book 4 down...

Fuck, yeah!

Tavi with little Furies is awesome.

Isana kicked all kinds of butt. That scene with the leviathans and sharks and everything ws just excellent.

Demos and his furyship were awesome.

Marcus/Fidelias is growing on me.

Kitai STILL gets all the best lines.

The whole caper to spring Varg from prison was pure greatness.

That last swordfight was excellent.

Is it just me or does Max get stabbed, fried, and or burned to near death in every book he's in?

Amara and Bernard's travellogue was less interesting, but Butcher managed to throw in enough interesting character development to make it work even so.

My favourite book so far. Lovin' it.

[Use Of Weapons]

Hehe. We tolja!

[QuickTidal]

Ah, good news Abyss....next up is PRINCEP'S FURY....which has probably my favourite line of dialogue in the ENTIRE series hands down...and actually one of my favourite whole sequences.

Enjoy!

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 23 August 2011 - 01:01 PM

[champ]

Abyss, on 23 August 2011 - 05:14 AM, said:

Book 4 down...

Fuck, yeah!

Our job here is done!

[Abyss]

Am totally enjoying Lady Aquitaine as a supporting character. Butcher's done a great job of making her ambiguously ambitious and prone to switching sides for her own purposes, plus she's powerful as fuck.

Also, the Canim are probably the best done 'wolf-man' race i've ever read in fantasy.

Really enjoyed Tavi declaring himself as Octavian in bk4. Not a surprise at all, but i enjoyed the way Butcher played the circumstances into leaving him no choice.

Gaius taking out Kalarus with a volcano was also a nice touch.

[Abyss]

ganked from 'reading' thread...

QuickTidal, on 07 September 2011 - 12:46 PM, said:

Abyss, on 07 September 2011 - 05:10 AM, said:

QuickTidal, on 06 September 2011 - 03:01 PM, said:

Abyss, on 06 September 2011 - 02:50 PM, said:

200 pages into ALERA bk 5 and lovin' it.

You haven't reached my fave line yet (I don't think at the 200 page mark)...but you will, and you'll know it when you read it.

What I wouldn't give to read that book for the first time again!

400 pages. Still love.

Was the line

Spoiler

"Knowledge is your weapon. Now kill them with it."

... ?

Nope.

Spoiler

How far are you into the Canim continent? I totally forget where the line shows up, but I DO know it was deep into the Canim continent and was the final line of a chapter and my jaw hit the floor.

BOOK 5 SPOILERS BELOW HERE UNBLOCKED

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

SPOILERS NAKED VORDPORN DIRECT TO YOUR BRAIN SPOILERS

SPOILERS.


Tavi and co just took out the vord sub-queen that was invading the Shaur interior. So not done with the Cane continent just yet.

The other line that really stood out was way earlier... Gaius about Aquitaine... paraphrased...

"If i actualy hated him as much as he thinks i do, I would just give him the damn crown."

...nce touch, says volumes about both men.


I'll keep an eye open. The book is totally amped now heading into the last 200 pgs or so...

Isana challenging Antillus is fairly obvious but after her last two power-ups (ocean and snow) i'm fairly curious to see how this goes.

Amara and Bernard's mission is more interesting here than in book 4. She just decided to kill Brencis. Boo-yah. I knew the voice was Rook the second she broke the would-be rapist's neck.

I can't wait to read Varg's reaction to Lallarl holding the surviving Narash as ritual fodder.

Tavi's plan to bring the Canim back to fight to Vord is just awesome.

Crassus and Max appear to be in a competition to see who gets more beat up in any given book.

Kitai still gets all the bets lines Damn does Butcher love writing her.

And i could be wrong, but my inner geek insists that a tavar is a wolverine, because at heart, Butcher is Butcher.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 07 September 2011 - 05:10 AM, said:

QuickTidal, on 06 September 2011 - 03:01 PM, said:

Abyss, on 06 September 2011 - 02:50 PM, said:

200 pages into ALERA bk 5 and lovin' it.

You haven't reached my fave line yet (I don't think at the 200 page mark)...but you will, and you'll know it when you read it.

What I wouldn't give to read that book for the first time again!

400 pages. Still love.

Was the line

Spoiler

"Knowledge is your weapon. Now kill them with it."

... ?

Nope.

Sorry Abyss, I modified that answer to include this if you've passed Chapter 16:

Only unspoiler if you'd read past the end of Chapter 16 Abyss (which you clearly have)

Spoiler

If Tavi was not mistaken in his estimate, Warmaster Lararl of the Range of Shuar had something like a quarter of a million of them.

And they weren’t what had frightened him.

The plains at the base of the plateau, all of them, all of them, for as far as the eye could see… glowed softly green.

They were covered in the croach.

And the croach was covered in Vord.

There was no way for him to count them. Simply no way. There were too many. It was like staring down at an uprooted anthill. Black forms moved everywhere, seething over the landscape below, rushing and flowing in organized channels that reminded Tavi uncomfortably of a network of veins pulsing with dark blood. They spread from horizon to horizon, all moving forward, an inexorable pressure being exerted upon the massive Shuaran fortifications.

The Canim fought. They had already piled chitinous black corpses into miniature mountains, but still the Vord came on.

And the world behind them was nothing but dark, alien shadows and eerie green light.

Varg stared down on the land below with an expression and posture Tavi had never seen on any Cane. His ears had simply slumped, falling limply in slightly different directions. The dark fur not covered by his armor almost seemed to go flat against his skin. He stared for long, silent moments before he finally said, in a whisper, “Tarsh in command of Molvar. Molvar, the mighty fortress. Built to defend Shuar against my people.”

Max made a hissing sound of sympathetic pain.

Tavi bowed his head.

Varg turned flat, dull eyes to Anag. “When?”

“Almost two years ago,” Anag said. He looked from the battle back to the rest of them. “Narash was only the first to fall, Warmaster. The other ranges are gone. They’re all gone.”

“Gone?” Varg said.

Anag looked back down to the battle, his manner weary. “Only Shuar remains.”

I was fucking floored by that bolded line after that paragraph.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 07 September 2011 - 01:16 PM

[Abyss]

oookay, i was looking for a specific line but you did say it was a paragraph or something, and yeah, that was pretty fucked up.

The way Butcher set up that revelation (the idiot being in command at the port and what that implied) and the impact on especially Varg was VERY impressive, especially in the context of everything we've learned about the Canim by them: that there were five more nations of them Alera knew nothing about, each more populated than Alera, point being if the Canim had ever been serious about wiping the Alerans, it would have been game over. And now the Vord had wiped out the Canim...

In some ways, Butcher is even more adept at steadily raising the tension level in this series than he is in Dresden.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 07 September 2011 - 01:28 PM, said:

oookay, i was looking for a specific line but you did say it was a paragraph or something, and yeah, that was pretty fucked up.

The way Butcher set up that revelation (the idiot being in command at the port and what that implied) and the impact on especially Varg was VERY impressive, especially in the context of everything we've learned about the Canim by them: that there were five more nations of them Alera knew nothing about, each more populated than Alera, point being if the Canim had ever been serious about wiping the Alerans, it would have been game over. And now the Vord had wiped out the Canim...

In some ways, Butcher is even more adept at steadily raising the tension level in this series than he is in Dresden.

Indeed, and he spends the first 15 chapters telling us if the Canim have a badass, unforgiving, elite warrior sect...it's the Shuar....so when that revelation dropped on me...it cleaned out my brain with a scoop.

So good.

[Abyss]

The Canim hunters are also awesome - wolf-man ninja scouts ftw!

And Kitai and the Hunters sneaking in Vord armour to rescue Tavi was brilliant. "Operational security.".... HA!

[Pig Iron]

The vord = zerg is not commented upon much. They even have creep! One of Butchers many strengths is how he borrows like crazy and does it better.

[Coco with marshmallows]

Pig Iron, on 07 September 2011 - 04:38 PM, said:

The vord = zerg is not commented upon much. They even have creep! One of Butchers many strengths is how he borrows like crazy and does it better.

Ahem.

you mean vord = tyranid.

and let the back and forth begin.....